quote:“SHARIA HAS FIZZLED OUT”…….President Obasanjo
It was the evening of September 24, 2004, at the 2004 Oliver Tambo Lecture, held in the Donovan Hall of Georgetown University in Washington DC. The president of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo was the keynote speaker. Two other speakers included Secretary Madeline Albright and Ambassador McHenry.
I here summarize some of the statements I heard our president make.
I am not a news reporter, so I will leave all embellishments to those experts.
The president was asked by two of the panel members, as the current chairman of the African Union (AU), what he recommends to be done about the lingering conflict in Sudan, as it is reminiscent of the Rwanda horrors. He also was asked to take the question closer home about his country and elaborate on the ethnic eruptions in Nigeria as read in the news media.
The hall was packed, mostly with Georgetown students, faculty, and visitors. Many people were standing in a hall with capacity of over 500 (my low estimate).
The audience was very patient as he went on for quite a long time to discuss his views about Sudan.
When it came to Nigeria and the ethnic eruptions, the president said that for his first term in office as a civilian, his own people did not vote for him, but an overwhelming majority of Nigerians, other than his own people (Yorubas) put him in office. His major challenge was that Nigeria is a unique nation where 150 million people have over 350 different languages. He contrasted Nigeria with China where the population is higher but that China has only four different languages. India has even fewer distinct languages, he said.
This language and ethnic variation was, for him both a difficulty as well as a blessing.
He then went on to say that certain people still believed that Biafra was still in existence and he had to deal with that matter. He did not elaborate on why he singled out this Biafra issue as his personal problem or challenge, neither did he tell the audience how he has been tackling or resolved it.
His second election to office was very easy, he said, because 63% of Nigerian voters cast their votes for him from all sectors of the country
Then he went on to discuss the Muslim Sharia law in Nigeria.
He stated that Sharia has always been in, and within the constitution of Nigeria, so much so that when one morning, one of the governors in the Northern states woke up and declared Sharia (as the supreme law) in his state, he, Obasanjo did not worry about it. He said he knew it would fizzle out. He then went on to announce how two men accused of stealing under the sharia law had both of their hands cut off. Two other people were found guilty of adultery and condemned to die by stoning but that eventually, the federal legal system worked and death by stoning was averted. He revealed to the audience that those two unfortunate bilateral amputees received financial compensation for their troubles, so much so that the Sharia governor has now regretted his actions.
Then the president dropped his bombshell declaration that as he speaks, “SHARIA HAS FIZZLED OUT”, just as he predicted it would.
How does he know, you ask yourself?
He provided the answer.
Very recently, the president said, the sharia governor paid the president a visit. When he (president) asked the hand-chopping governor whether he is going to chop off more hands, the governor told him that all those have stopped and that he has changed his ways. The governor now prefers to have Muslims with their two hands than no hands.
This is how the president came to the conclusion that sharia is a thing of the past in Nigeria. He added that he knew all along that sharia was only a political ploy used for a political purpose only.
When it was time to accept questions from the audience, the moderator announced that she would give priority to Georgetown students, before visitors.
Only three students asked general questions about Africa (the Sudan issue), whether it would be to American interest to fund or assist in combating the Sudan problem etc.
The president took very long time to lecture on each question so much so that time ran out and the moderator announced she was sorry she could not take any more questions.
I would have liked to ask the president one or two questions but it was not possible.
If Sharia has been a part of the Nigerian constitution, has it always superceded the Nigerian constitution so that a state governor (presumably subject to the Nigerian constitution) had the right to cut off the hands of, not one, but two Nigerian citizens (who also are presumably protected by the same Nigerian constitution). If the Nigerian constitution indeed supercedes Sharia religious law, how come that the hand-chopping governor is still governor and walking the streets as a free man? During his first term in office, Biafra was one of his problems. This second term, is Biafra still his problem and if so, how? What have the people from Eastern Nigeria, particularly Ndigbo, done to him to deserve abject cruelty from him? Why is free speech in a democracy labeled as treason just because a true Igbo leader and an upright Nigerian citizen expressed his views in support of opposition to suppression and marginalization of a large segment of the citizenry?
I am sure there were many more serious questions that could not be asked at this meeting.
The Georgetown University president and his staff must be commended for their effort in bringing about this opportunity for our president to share his wisdom and administrative style with the audience. That time ran out was not their fault. They were very courteous in allowing their guest speak as long as he pleased on whatever took his fancy within or without the context of the questions posed to him.
Do not forget, he said that Sharia has fizzled out in Nigeria.
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